Travel, food, climbing, and adventures

Chong Phli – First 7a

So, a couple days ago I got to climb Grace 7a on top rope two more times and I’m feeling pretty good about redpointing it soon. I also wanted to hurry up and finish this project because somebody stole my quickdraw off the first bolt and I didn’t want any more to go missing. So last night I ate a good dinner, only drank one beer and go to bed early so I could get an early start in the morning and climb before it gets too hot.

My mind was playing those mental games with me so I slept poorly,woke up later than I wanted, and my body was a bit sore from the previous days yoga session. But I still made it to Chong Phli at about 9am which was later than I wanted to be still earlier than I usually get there. I warm up on EFZ 6a+, and was thinking about doing Exfoliation 6a+ but it was busy so I waited for Grace which was also busy to open up.

Grace.

Grace starts with some thin slab climbing up to a small ledge then it follows the crack up and to the left. Past the crack it traverses right to some more slab climbing and to the anchor. I made it up to the ledge without trouble but started to panic a little when I tried to clip the next quickdraw too high above me head. But I got it sorted out and made it through the crux without any trouble. The next section was a mental crux. The holds don’t feel very good but I didn’t hesitate, went for it and made it to the jug at the next sling. Clipped it then I knew I would make it to the anchor, I just had to be patient.

Happy for my first 7a send!

Anong tried it then I did one more lap on top rope. Next we climbed Chutzpah 6a+ on top rope. Having a surprising amount of energy I then decided to go up Exfoliation. Then Anong and I headed home to eat some lunch.

Later in the day I went back to Chong Phli to climb with another friend. Even though the main face is in the sun, there are some routes in the cave and back side that get shade. Then at about 6:00pm the sun is low enough to climb routes on the main face and it stays light enough to climb until 6:45pm or 7:00pm. We climbed The Dude Abides 6a+ in the cave then went around to the main face to climb Momentum 6b and finished up just before dark.